Baking through Bentos one day at a time

Caramel Apple Pie

Oh my, this pie! Absolutely fantastic!! And the crust was so easy! Every preconceived notion I had about pie is tossed out the window! You see, I have always been frustrated by pie crust. The thought of keeping the butter at the right temperature just drove me crazy, I didn’t want to spend 2 hours to make a crust! And of course, whenever the desire to make pie struck, I didn’t have any of the premade stuff on hand. I happened to stumble upon a recipe for an oil based pie crust on Allrecipes.com that just required you to mix everything in the pie plate and press into place. That sounded too good to be true! And yet it had thousands of rave reviews, so why not try it? I did modify it slightly based on some reviewers suggestions and the finished product was so tender and flaky! And the coup de gras for this recipe was the filling, which I found on recipe rhapsody, which incorporates a caramel sauce. I know, how genius is that?! Topped with some extra brown sugar on the top and my eyes just rolled when I tasted it. I shall never let my lips touch canned pie filling again! Start to finish this pie took about 2 hours, including baking time, and with the random snow we had in TX this weekend (I know, snow on the first day of spring! Only in Texas!) it was comfort food at its finest next to the fireplace. :)

Oil Pie Crust

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 heaping tablespoon white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons milk

Place all ingredients into your pie pan and mix together with a fork. Press dough on bottom and up the sides and set aside. (If you have a no bake pie then you can prick it with a fork and bake at 400 for about 9 minutes, then just fill it.)

2. Toss sliced apples with the cinnamon flour mix until coated and place them in the pie crust.

3. Melt the butter in a sauce pan over low heat, then whisk in the flour until there is no more lumps. Whisk in the brown sugar, white sugar, and water.

4. Bring to a boil over medium head and let boil for 5 minutes. (In the meantime you can whip up another pie crust for the topping)

5. Pour the caramel sauce on top of the apples slowly to let it seep between the slices. Top with your second pie crust and place on a cookie sheet. (Note: I ended up doing a lattice top because the crust can break easily when transferring)

6. Brush top crust with egg and sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake for 20 minutes then reduce the oven temp to 350 and cover with foil to bake for an additional 40 minutes.

What a fab idea! My DH uses oil to make Pizza dough but I never would have thought to do it for an apple pie pastry crust! It looks great – wish I could try yours. might have to have a go at this one! I saw some apple pancakes the other day on TV too – It’s a sign for me to buy some cooking apples! :)